Jennifer Lopez gives birth to twins

Jennifer Lopez and her husband were ecstatic today after she gave birth to healthy twins.

The actress welcomed the babies - a boy and a girl - into the world in the early hours of this morning in a Long Island hospital outside New York.

The girl was born at 12:12 a.m. and weighed 5 lbs. 7 oz. The boy followed at 12:23 a.m., weighing 6lbs.A heavily pregnant Jennifer Lopez at the United Nations headquarters in New York earlier this month

Mother and children are said to be doing well as she recovers from the birth.

The babies are the first children for 38-year-old Lopez and the fourth for her third husband, actor and singer Marc Anthony, 39, who wed in 2004.

Anthony also has two sons and one daughter from two previous relationships.

"Jennifer and Marc are delighted, thrilled and over the moon," said Lopez's manager Simon Fields.

News of the birth follows the disclosure that Lopez and Anthony have sold rights to the first pictures of the twins for a reported $6m, or £3m, to America's People magazine.

In keeping with Hollywood fashion, the babies are also expected to appear on prime time U.S. television shows after the photos appear in People.

The couple celebrated the impending births with a baby shower in New York on January 19.

"They were just beaming the entire time," said one partygoer.

Long-time friend, actress Leah Remini described Lopez as "a born mom" and very nurturing.

She said: "With our daughter, she's so great. I mean, lets her go in her closet and play with her coats or her jewellery. She's just so giving and loving."

After months of rumours that she was expecting, Lopez announced her pregnancy on November 8 during a concert tour.

"Marc and I are expecting a baby," she told the crowd during her performance.

"We didn't want to say anything before because we didn't want to take away from the tour, but we're expecting," she told the audience at the final concert on her joint tour with Anthony.Overjoyed: The couple are said to be thrilled with the new additions to their family

The news that his daughter was actually expecting twins was finally confirmed by Lopez's dad earlier this month in an interview with a Spanish-language television station.

During the early weeks of her pregnancy, Lopez skilfully avoided the question, even when appearing on TV in October with experienced interviewers Diane Sawyer and with David Letterman.

She also shrugged off the secrecy, telling Harper's Bazaar magazine: "I kind of feel like everybody knew anyway. I was on tour with a bubble gut."

But she said her choice to try and keep the pregnancy private for as long as possible was important to her.

"I do realise people want to know because they're interested, but this is the first time I'm going through this," Lopez told the magazine.

"This is my experience and my husband's experience, and we get to hold that for a little while." Being tight lipped has long been Lopez's style.

When she married Anthony in June 2004, her representatives would neither confirm nor deny the wedding had taken place.

What are not being kept secret are Lopez's plans now that she's a mother. The hard-working performer intends to take off time.

She said in a recent interview: "Once I did the tour, I really just wanted to shut it down, and since then I've had to do three things, including a video.

"It may not sound like a lot, but you know, as this point, any woman can sympathise. It is a lot. I was ready just to sit."

Lopez is believed to have given birth at Long Island's North Shore Medical Centre in a private room she has had reserved for more than two weeks.

The luxury room, which has a wooden floor and is furnished with a brown leather couch and giant TV, had been kept vacant for a fortnight until Lopez went into labour.

Despite hospital denials, it was recently revealed the facility has been put on kidnap alert over fears that someone may try to snatch Lopez's new-borns.

Staff have been undertaking specialist 'Code Pink' drills to ensure they are prepared in case anyone attempts to take the babies.

It has also been revealed that the Lopez's babies will be moving into £60,000 luxury nurseries.

According to the sources, the Latin pop star has prepared an ocean-themed room along with English furniture and French-made cribs embellished with hand-embroidered bedding for her soon to be arriving twins.

She has also put up 18-karat gilded trim and chandeliers in her nurseries at her Long Island home, as well as her mansions in Bel Air, California, and Florida's Fisher Island.

The twins will also have matching one piece baby suits by Huddy Buddy, with pink and blue tags reading "I'm part of a set."

To guard them against the chilly New York winters, they would also be provided with matching pink and blue cashmere sweater and pants sets designed by Baby CZ.

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